The gardening club, founded by two seniors, Romeo Rice and Thayer Martinez , has held its meetings since September 16th and bloomed into success with a lot of excited gardeners joining the club.

    Romeo and Thayer started the gardening club because they thought it could be beneficial for Richwoods students. Romeo said that he took AP Biology and noticed that a greenhouse was in that room, but it wasn’t being maintained at all. “There were plants dying, and they weren’t being watered either.” Since gardening was one of his favorite pastimes, he spent every lunch period in Room 256 and took care of all the plants. Thayer had the same idea. “This school has so much potential for the environment and for some beautiful landscaping.” Then, Romeo and Thayer went to Ms. Zimmerman and asked to start the club. “We want to introduce gardening to Richwoods again because it had gone away for a while,” said Romeo. 

    Ms. Zimmerman is the club’s advisor. They held their first meeting on September 16th, and it was a great success. With around 30 people, the gardening club is blossoming as everyone is enjoying and growing their own plants. They are currently growing a variety of plants such as cacti, aloe plants, sunflowers, and herbs. Thayer himself enjoys growing his honeydew, and Romeo really wants to grow a mango tree. To make sure that the plants are well taken care of, they have a sign-up sheet for members who would like to come during passing periods to water their plants. If they can’t water their plants, Thayer, Romeo, or Ms. Zimmerman will help water them. Over the fall break, Mr. Baumgardner also helped take care of the plants. For future activities, Ms. Zimmerman plans to contact the owner of a gardening shop in East Peoria to come give a talk during one of the gardening club meetings. 

    Currently, they are collaborating with the science club for their project called “Revive the Beehive.” Romeo and Thayer would like to get the beehive in the school courtyard up and going again. In need of funds, they are selling snacks as their fundraiser in order to buy bees, a queen bee, and bee suits.

    Thayer, Romeo, and Ms. Zimmerman are very glad that their club is a great success.  “It’s awesome that so many people are interested in joining the gardening experience because it is a great thing for the environment,” said Thayer. Romeo thinks that it is very rewarding “to see the plants thrive in the greenhouse and grow from a seed and all the way to a big plant that’s making its own fruit.”